Serum
by RosieG
Summary: When Oliver is dosed with sodium pentothal to get him to reveal company intel, Felicity may have bigger problems than just getting him to keep his secret identity secret.


This fic started out as a drabble prompt fill and (haha) 3000 words later, became it's own story.

Kelly, on AO3 requested: Oliver and Felicity pre-relationship get kidnapped- Oliver gets dosed with sodium pentothal and ends up very awkwardly telling Felicity how he feels about her. They get out, and then the awkwardness of Felicity and Oliver dealing with the realization…. cause I can imagine Felicity would be totally gobsmacked.

* * *

The cell was what one would expect a cell to be. Dark, dank. There was a distinct scent of mold coming from the stained mattress against the wall, and Felicity wrinkled her nose, opting instead to sit on the floor on the opposite end of the tiny room.

Her head still ached a little bit and she sighed. Felicity wasn't sure how long she'd been here. She had groggily woken up about an hour ago, with no memory of how or when she'd been taken.

A quick search had revealed that the tiny tracker Oliver made her and Digg wear at all times was still under the insole of her shoe. Ah the pros of paranoia. So it was really just a matter of time and waiting patiently. She could expect to be rescued fairly quickly. Assuming Oliver and Digg hadn't been taken as well. And assuming whoever had taken _her _didn't decide to kill her first.

A loud clanging sound made her jump, and a moment later, the door to her cell was swinging open, and a very unhappy Oliver Queen was hurled inside, stumbling until he fell down next to her. So much for Oliver rescuing her.

Unhappy was probably an understatement. Oliver looked like he'd been put through the ringer. His face was beginning to show mottled bruising on the left side, and the skin above his cheekbone had split and was bleeding. Felicity took in his soaked shirt and wet hair and just knew. They'd been torturing him.

One of the men at the door spoke, his voice muffled by the face mask he wore. "We'll be back for you in twenty minutes. Don't get too comfortable." The door shut with a loud clang and Felicity scrambled over to Oliver, lifting her hand to his face. He winced when her fingers brushed over his cheek and she quickly pulled them away.

"Oliver –what is this about? Is it-?"

Oliver leaned his head back against the stone wall and shut his eyes. "No. Nothing you-know-who related. They're after Queen Consolidated classified intel. We have a couple of government contracts they're interested in."

Felicity took a deep breath and sighed out in relief. That meant the people who had taken them had really just taken Oliver Queen and his EA Felicity Smoak. They didn't realize they were holding the most dangerous man in Starling City.

"Do you know how long we've been here?"

Oliver shook his head. "They drugged us. It was night when it happened, but there aren't any windows here, so I really don't know. It can't be too long though." He opened his eyes and nodded towards her feet. The tracking device. Which meant Oliver knew Digg hadn't been taken and they were going to be just fine.

"Well, Diggle better hurry. You don't look all that great."

Oliver huffed out a laugh. "Thanks," he said. "But we have bigger problems."

"Bigger problems? Bigger than psychopaths drugging us and dumping us in a cell that's probably riddled with asbestos? What problems?" Felicity frowned.

Oliver shivered slightly and shook his head. "They injected me with something. About five minutes ago. But I haven't felt any physical effects yet, and they said they'd be back in twenty minutes, which makes me think it was probably sodium pentothal."

Felicity blanched. "Truth serum?"

Oliver laughed. "That's a very loose term for it, but yes. Sodium pentothal isn't the magical tell-all people think it is, but it can still land us in some definite trouble. Especially if they know how to utilize it correctly."

"What do you mean?"

Oliver grimaced as he pulled himself upright, his hands balling into fists. "Sodium pentothal basically lowers inhibitions, leaving a person much more open to questioning. Answers usually end up being more along the lines of free-thought rambles, and anything can just come out, so whoever is asking the questions needs to know what they're doing and how to sift through the information they get. It's a lot like when_ you_ go off on a tangent, except obviously a lot less adorable and _you_ can stop which_ I'm _clearly not managing to do, and yeah, it was definitely sodium pentothal. We have a problem…"

Oliver trailed off, clenching his teeth and shutting his eyes. Felicity's mouth hung open in shock for a moment. She could feel the beginnings of laughter bubbling up, but she bit her lip instead and took a deep breath, trying to focus herself.

"So, basically, what you're saying is we have less than twenty minutes for Digg to get here and save our asses or you might let some very, _very _secret information slip, and I'm not talking about our government contracts."

Oliver just nodded, clearly not trusting himself to begin speaking again.

"Is there anything else we could do to try and slow you down?"

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know? Maybe get me focused on something else? If I get worked up over another topic, maybe they won't be able to get me to switch tracks?"

"Um, okay…" Felicity bit her lip again, trying to think of something she knew Oliver was passionate about, that he could talk about for a while, but the only thing coming to mind was justice, and Tommy's memory, and saving the city, and oh, none of those would work, and did he really not have any other interests besides Queen Consolidated and being Arrow?!

"You need to stop doing that…" Oliver's voice sounded strained.

"Huh? Doing what?" Felicity asked, distracted.

Oliver groaned and Felicity's eyes flew to his, worried that he'd been hurt even more than she originally thought. Oliver's eyes, however, were focused on her lips.

"That biting thing you do when you're stressed. Please. It's very distracting."

"I – What?"

"You bite your lips when you're thinking, or when you're stressed out, or just trying to figure out a solution to some sort of puzzle, and I have a hard time ignoring it, so please, stop, because otherwise I'm just going to keep talking about your lips, and I really _need_ to stop. They're just- when you bite them, _I_ start to think about biting them, and then I start to think about other things I shouldn't be thinking about when we're in the middle of board meetings, or finding a bad guy, or sitting in a cell trying to figure out how I'm supposed to stop myself from letting our kidnappers know that I dress up in green leather every night and patrol the city!"

Oliver made a pained noise in the back of his throat, and Felicity saw his jaw clench.

Felicity for her part, was astounded. She'd never even suspected Oliver looked at her as anything more than a friend and partner in, well, _crime_.

"_Okay_," she said slowly. "Okay. So you find me attractive. Fine, that's,_fine_. No biggie."

Oliver shook his head, taking a deep breath through his nose. He really looked like he was trying to stop talking, but he was failing spectacularly. "It's not just attraction, Felicity. Don't get me wrong, you are a_beautiful_ woman. I noticed it the first time we met. But it goes beyond that. You've managed to work your way in to every part of my life, and I'm not sure I could survive without you at this point. You're beautiful, sexy, funny, ridiculously smart, compassionate. You're not scared to call me on my stupidity, and you won't back down when you think I'm in the wrong."

Felicity couldn't believe what she was hearing, and apparently Oliver couldn't believe what he was saying because his eyes were wide and he looked like he was panicking.

"I don't think there's anyone else in my life who knows me like you do, and I want you Felicity. I've never wanted anything or anyone so badly. But I'm afraid I'm going to mess it up, and that you'll get hurt, and_shèng tā mā de! _I'm still talking!" Oliver's voice rose to an aggravated growl at the end.

Felicity wondered if there was some drug _she_ could take that would allow her brain to process what Oliver was saying as quickly as he was saying it.

There wasn't, so she was going to have to make do without. She focused on the one part of Oliver's speech that didn't make her feel like she was going to laugh/cry hysterically.

"That's it! Chinese!" she exclaimed, shocking Oliver long enough to get him to fall silent.

"You speak fluent Chinese!"

Oliver nodded. "And Russian," he said. "I spent two years on a chain-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Felicity cut him off before he could get started again. "My point is, answer whatever questions they ask you, but _do it in a different language_! You could do that, right?"

Oliver's eyes widened, and his lips curled slowly into a smile. "That actually might work… Felicity, you are without a doubt the most amazing-"

"Incredible, sexy, beautiful, _blah, blah, blah_. Let's not start again." Oliver's mouth snapped shut. "All of that is, yeah,_ okay_, something we will definitely be addressing _later_. But right now I think I hear them."

There were indeed heavy footsteps outside, and then the door was being unlocked and pulled open once again. But before either of the men standing in the in the hall could say a word, there was an explosion from nearby, and the masked men cried out in surprise. Gunshots followed, and Oliver threw himself over Felicity, getting between her and the door. The guards raised their guns, but before they could shoot, there were two more gunshots and both fell to the ground, dead.

Felicity peeked around Oliver's shoulder to see they'd each been shot in the head. A moment passed and then –

"You two okay in there?"

Relief flooded her as Digg's voice registered. "Ugh, Digg. Thank God!"

Oliver stood and pulled Felicity up after him.

"Diggle, I am so happy to see you," Oliver was shaking his head, running a hand through his hair. "I don't think I tell you enough how much I appreciate you. Honestly, you have saved my sorry ass too many times to count and-" The rest of whatever he was going to say came out muffled as Felicity firmly placed her hand over his mouth, shutting him up.

"He okay?" Digg asked, clearly confused.

"Sodium pentothal," she responded simply.

Diggle's eyebrows shot up, but he nodded his understanding. "So, really did get here just in time, didn't I?" he asked.

"A few minutes earlier would have been appreciated, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Diggle looked at her oddly, a question in his eyes. Felicity just shook her head from behind Oliver, finally letting go of him. Oliver looked back at her and nodded, his lips firmly sealed together, but his eyes showing gratitude.

"Come on man," Diggle said, leading them out. "Police are here, weeding out the rest of the kidnapping ring. There's an ambulance outside. Let's get you some fluids and flush out that drug."

Two hours, one liter of fluids and a _lot_ of incoherent Chinese babble later, Felicity was finally settled on her sofa back in her apartment with a glass of wine, trying to wind down. All said and done, they hadn't been gone longer than six hours. It was just after two am. She should have been exhausted, but Felicity couldn't relax.

Someone else might have blamed getting kidnapped for her restlessness, but truth was, kidnapping was pretty par for the course when you ran diagnostics and tech support for the Arrow.

No. What really had her brain running in circles was Oliver. The entire evening had been crazy, and she had flitted from one task to the next, looking after things, and keeping herself busy. Keeping herself _distracted_. She'd made sure he got his fluids, receiving what she could only assume were endless accolades in Mandarin from Oliver. He'd taken her advice and avoided English until he'd been sure he could control himself. Then she'd made sure he didn't argue while the paramedics patched him up. His cheek didn't need stitches, but he'd inhaled a lot of water (Felicity had shuddered at the thought, wondering what the kidnappers had done to cause that, and how Oliver could be so calm). The paramedics had just wanted to make sure he was okay. They'd said he'd probably develop a cough for the next week or so, but his body would take care of it. Then she and Oliver had been questioned, and re-questioned, until Felicity just wanted to shoot the officers herself.

So. Busy. Busy was good. She couldn't think about Oliver pretty much letting her know he was in love with her as long as she was busy.

However, now that Felicity was alone, she couldn't ignore what he'd said in that cell anymore. The silence of her apartment surrounded her as his words rang out clearly inside of her head.

He'd said he needed her. _Wanted_ her. Called her beautiful and smart and funny and everything she'd ever wanted to hear someone acknowledge about her.

Felicity had researched sodium pentothal on her tablet (Digg had been kind enough to retrieve it for her while they were being questioned), to see how much truth there actually had been to what Oliver had said. She'd learned that sometimes, when directly questioned, someone dosed with the drug might answer what they thought the questioner wanted to hear. But she hadn't asked, and how could Oliver have known how much his words would mean to her? The guy was incredible when it came to hunting down the bad guy, but inter-personal cues and human relationships? Not really his forte…

A quiet knock at her front door made Felicity freeze. At two am, there was really only one person it could be.

She padded silently to her door and checked through the eyehole. Sure enough, there was Oliver, hands in his pockets, wearing jeans and that tan jacket she secretly thought was one of the best items of clothing he owned.

She took a quick glance down at herself. Sweatpants and a ratty tee shirt. Well. He said he thought she was beautiful. She'd have to assume that meant all the time and not just when she was wearing cute panda flats.

She unlocked the door and slid back the bolt, opening it with a nervous smile.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi." He was smiling. Good sign? "Can I come in?"

She held the door wide in answer, taking a step back, and Oliver walked into her apartment.

Great.

Now what?

She shut the door and headed back into the living room, Oliver following silently.

"I was, um, just having some wine. Trying to wind down, you know? Crazy night and everything…" Oliver just nodded, and for a second, Felicity wished he was still on his babbling spree, so she didn't feel like she needed to fill the silence herself.

"You, uh – you doing okay? All truthed out?"

Oliver winced and Felicity immediately regretted her word choice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean. I mean- I _know_ that wasn't your fault, and it was fine, really. And it must have been terrible for you not being able to control what you were saying, believe me, I feel like that most of the time but-"

A hand fell gently on her shoulder and stroked its way down to her elbow, and she looked up to find that Oliver was right there, looking down at her with that small quirk of a smile he seemed to reserve for her.

"Felicity," he said, and his voice was soft, and warm. "I'm glad you were there. There's no one else I'd trust as much as you to hear all of that."

Felicity bit her lip and immediately noticed Oliver's eyes drop to her mouth. He swallowed, and she suddenly felt much more sure-footed.

"So," she said, drawing the word out, the warmth of his hand a radiating on her elbow. "It's _later_. There were certain things that got said that I felt needed to be addressed…"

Oliver took a deep breath and pressed his lips together, focusing on her eyes again. "Right," he said, nodding.

Felicity frowned. "Oliver. All those things you said to me… Did you really mean – I mean, how much of it did you actually-" Oliver cut her off.

"All of it."

"Oh." A pause. "Wow. Um. How long?"

Oliver's fingers trailed back up her arm, making her shiver. When he reached her neck, he brushed her hair back behind her shoulder, and she tilted her head, leaning into his touch, her cheek resting in his palm.

"A while now. A few months at least. More."

Her breath hitched at the thought. Oliver had wanted her for months now, and she'd had no idea.

She brought her hand up to cover his.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

Oliver shook his head, smiling wryly. "I might be the Arrow, but some things still scare me."

He was answering her questions so easily. No hesitation. No avoidance. Felicity recognized that Oliver was making sure to tell her the truth now, not because he was being forced to, but because she was asking, and he wanted to. Somehow his words held more weight now than everything he'd said in the cell before, because he was telling her of his own free will. Felicity closed her eyes.

His thumb was rubbing across her cheekbone, his other fingers grazing the skin behind her ear.

"If we're going to do this," Felicity said, "we have to tell each other the truth. We have to be open about things. Everything else in our lives is a big secret all the time, but not this." She opened her eyes, her breathing shallow, the few points of contact he had with her skin sending jolts through the rest of her.

"Okay," he replied, nodding, and stepping closer, his entire body flush against hers. His other hand trailed up her hip to rest on her waist, beneath her tee shirt. "How's this for truth, then? I really want to kiss you right now."

Felicity swallowed. "Yeah, that's-" she cleared her throat. "That's good. You should do that."

Oliver leaned down slowly, but didn't completely close the gap, barely brushing his lips over hers. His mouth was slightly opened against hers, and her lips were parted. They paused, breathing each other in, not daring to move forward, caught in the stillness of the moment before the storm hit. Then Felicity licked her lips, her tongue brushing slightly against Oliver's, and with a groan, he sealed his mouth over hers, one hand tilting her head further back, the other clutching at her waist, fingers digging in to her skin.

Felicity grabbed the lapels of his jacket, holding on, and lifting herself on her toes, as Oliver's arm wrapped behind her back, pulling her more tightly against him. She gasped feeling every inch of him pressed against her.

Oliver bit lightly at her lower lip and Felicity jumped, pulling away slightly and rubbing her tongue over the spot.

She could feel his grin against her lips and she leaned back. Oliver's eyes sparkled in amusement as he smiled.

"I told you I wanted to bite them."

Felicity couldn't help but grin back.

"Okay," she said. "My turn for a truth."

Oliver nodded.

Felicity took a deep breath. "I want you to stay," she said. "I'll always want you to stay. Spend the night with me?"

She heard and felt his intake of breath, and his arm tightened around her waist.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll stay. I'll always stay."

Felicity smiled.

"Good."


End file.
